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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · pop · bore · chest · bound · fall · drill · tube

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bound — certain
  4. drill — a practice
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pop — soda
  7. chest — of your body
  8. pop — music
  9. fall — the season
  10. fall — to drop
  11. bound — tied together
  12. bat — the animal
  13. pop — to visit
  14. drill — army training
  15. bound — obliged
  16. bore — to tire
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. tube — a container
  20. drill — the tool
  21. chest — a box
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. bore — to drill
  24. fall — to drop

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com